‘Ant-Man’ Crawls Into Former Release Date For ‘Superman/Batman’

Well if they won’t do it, someone should – that seems to be the mindset of the Marvel execs as they have apparently taken advantage of the recent departure of the Man of Steel sequel on July 17, 2015 and set Ant-Man in its place.

After recently announcing Paul Rudd as their pint-sized hero and Michael Douglas joining the cast to play Hank Pym, the studio originally eyed a July 31st release. With Warner Bros. announcing the Superman/Batman flick would fall back into 2016, Marvel decided not to waste any time by moving into the now vacant July 17th date, except for some Untitled Peter Pan Adventure (or Pan according to Variety) currently resting now in Ant-Man‘s tiny shadow.

As someone with noob level comic experience, I have absolutely no knowledge about the Ant-Man mythology. It’s because of that lack of knowledge that I had no place to weigh in on the casting of Paul Rudd or Michael Douglas, but do intend on seeing the film in spite of my comic ignorance. I’d be lying if I said Ant-Man taking place of the Man of Steel sequel didn’t bum me out a little bit, mostly since I had a little Man of Steel knowledge and the fact that my favorite hero, Batman, would be appearing might have also played into my excitement.

Looking at the current July 2015 forecast it doesn’t appear that Ant-Man will have a lot of heavy hitting competition. Of course, the schedule could change at any time. Right now it appears that only Terminator: Genesis and the Despicable Me spinoff Minions could cut into Marvel’s opening numbers, but even then I think simply baring Marvel’s brand, Ant-Man will have little to worry about come opening day. The weekend following the 17th shows only a film called Trainwreck starring Amy Schumer and directed by Judd Apatow.

As I’ve said before, I know nothing about Ant-Man so I can’t accurately predict what kind of audience the film will bring in. However, given that Marvel plans to make the character part of The Avengers I imagine that the studio will be using that to their advantage when it comes to marketing the film. It will also be a test to see just how much of a box office draw Paul Rudd is or if everyone will attribute the film’s success to simply being a Marvel property.

What do you think of the new release date for Ant-Man? Thoughts on the Ant-Man comics in general? Is Paul Rudd right for the role? Sound off below!

Hailing from the Midwest, Luke has a wide variety of interests but has a strong passion for movies and craft beer. His interest in beer leads many to believe he has a drinking problem, but also inspired him to dabble into home brewing. Luke is also fulfilling a degree in Communication Arts and enjoys making family members uncomfortable with his creative writing projects. Lastly and tragically as a Chicago Cubs fan he spends most of October in a fetal position on the couch watching Rookie of the Year.